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'The Fast Show' (UK TV series) - unedited episodes (Released)

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fn9t2

Would anyone happen to have any original broadcast versions of some of these episodes that have since been edited for DVD/VHS releases?

I’m mainly after Episodes 3 and 4 from Series 2 as they have a few missing sketches, the 1996 Christmas Special and “You Ain’t Seen All These, Right?” (from The Fast Show Night), both of which have music replaced in some sketches.

“Fred Halibut & His Little Banjolele” cut from Series 2, Episode 3;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYks29_oxUA

…and this one from Series 2, Episode 4 for some bizarre reason;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXxgxXiqZZw

The Fast Show - Christmas Special 1996 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzVVAcexIuE&t=1758s

The Colin Hunt sketch at 29:16 in the original broadcast version features George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” played in the background during one of the Colin Hunt sketches, which has been replaced with an alternate instrumental track on the Extended Version which was released on VHS and DVD. The above link is a TV recording of the original broadcast version but with the same alteration. The last time it aired on BBC2 was Christmas 1999 and I did have a VHS recording this repeat which I tried to use but my VCR chewed it up recently. I’m kicking myself for not preserving it sooner when I had a working DVD recorder. The GOLD broadcast from August 2020 bizarrely didn’t have any music playing during this scene so I’ll have to do a custom track with “Careless Whisper” overlayed onto it.

The following sketch is from “You Ain’t Seen All These, Right?”. The original broadcast version features Louis Armstrong’s version of “What a Wonderful World” playing out towards the end, but on DVD it’s been replaced with a cover of the song by another artist;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRH--pMVOFM&t=1s

I also had a VHS recording of this when it was repeated on BBC2, Christmas 2000 (the 2nd and last time it was aired) but I can’t seem to find that tape anywhere and I no longer have any means to capture VHS to digital. Again, annoyed at myself for not capturing it when I had the chance. Luckily the GOLD broadcast from August 2020 used the original music.

Series 2 was repeated on BBC2 in 2015 (except episode 7) in their untouched form which I wasn’t aware of until recently. I’ve tried to find some captures of these but no luck.

There’s also a Finnish DVD release of Series 2 by Pan Vision which is a 2 disc set rather than a single disc and Episodes 3 and 4 appears to be longer than the UK/AUS DVD leading me to believe that the Fred Halibut and Newlyweds sketches are intact, though according to DVDCompare it states that the’ve been cut from this release as well;

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=25695
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.discshop.fi%2Ftv-sarjat%2Fdvd%2Fruuvit_loysalla_kausi_2%2FP54163

I would like to purchase myself but can’t seem to find it available anywhere. Homefully someone could shed some more light on this release or how to purchase it from the UK.

Here’s a great article about the changes made to home releases;

http://www.dirtyfeed.org/2015/11/the-fast-show-series-2-dvd-edits/

Plus a thread from another forum discussing the 2015 repeats;

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=49347.0

There are some more edits listed on the wiki page;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fast_Show

I absolutely adore this show. It’s still brilliant and still holds up. Thankfully there isn’t too much missing from the DVD’s and not as severe a case like say “Only Fools and Horses”.

GOAL

Series 1 as far as I’m aware is uncut on the original 2002 stand-alone DVD release (some alterations were made to the 2007 Box Set) so I’ll just use that.

Series 2, Episodes 3 and 4, I will be reinserting the missing sketches from TVrips into the DVD version (most likely the original stand-alone 2003 release as that has fewer alterations compared to the 2007 Box Set) or better still, if any of the BBC2 2015 repeats surface and they at least match the DVD in terms of quality then I will just use those as my definitive versions. The 2020 GOLD broadcasts of these two episodes have been captured (Thank you Baobab Archiver) and have been used to reinstate the missing sketches and licenced music into the DVD version. Unfortunately due to the different framing and colour timing between the TV and DVD versions, I’m currently unable to remove the GOLD logo from the reinstated scenes. These episodes will be stand-alone .mpg’s.
Status - Complete

Christmas Special 1996 and “You Ain’t Seen All These, Right?” will simply be a case of doing a custom audio track by pasting portions of the original audio over the DVD AC3 of the Extended Editions. No re-encoding required. For these two specials, I’ll be able to reauthor the existing DVD’s including menus, chapters and subtitles but with the custom selectable audio tracks. The restored “Careless Whisper” version will be the default track and I’ll include the altered DVD version and the GOLD 2020 broadcast which is (I presume) and unfinished version (licensed music and laughter track missing in some sketches) as an option. These will both be DVD5’s.
Status - Complete

(I may even do a restoration of the original shorter broadcast versions of these two as they’re not commercially available and they both include elements that are missing/altered for the extended version)

Series 3 DVD’s claim to have edits made to them but I’m not sure what they are, if any. The 1996 Christmas Special was included on the original 2004 stand-alone DVD release so maybe the disclaimer was referring to that.

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UK Channel GOLD are going to be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of The Fast Show (belatedly) this month by marathoning the entire series along with a brand new special “The Fast Show: Just A Load of Blooming Catchphrases” to air on August 29th 2020.

https://gold.uktv.co.uk/shows/fast-show/episodes/

Series 2, Episodes 3 and 4 both aired on 21st August 2020 in their original broadcast forms and have been captured thanks to Baobab Archiver
Christmas Special 1996 airing on 30th August 2020 at 12:20am
“You Ain’t Seen All These, Right?” is airing on 31st August 2020 at 10:15pm

Series 2 was presented in it’s original broadcast form with all sketches and licenced music intact so hopefully the two specials listed will follow suit.

I’m going to Sky+ them but I’ve no way of capturing them or even just capturing the audio as my Sky+HD box doesn’t have any audio outputs besides optical, so if anyone here would be able to capture these for me I would very much appreciate it!

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I might be able to do it. I enjoy the Fast Show but haven’t seen it in years, so not sure what I’m looking for.
However if the episode turns out to have what is needed, drop me a PM and I’ll see what I can do.

P. S. As these are a way off yet, you might need to prompt me nearer the time, as I can’t set them to record yet!

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Baobab Archiver said:

I might be able to do it. I enjoy the Fast Show but haven’t seen it in years, so not sure what I’m looking for.
However if the episode turns out to have what is needed, drop me a PM and I’ll see what I can do.

P. S. As these are a way off yet, you might need to prompt me nearer the time, as I can’t set them to record yet!

That’d be great if you could capture those for me. The top two YouTube links are the missing Series 2 sketches I was referring to and were oriignally included in the two episodes I listed. If you can capture them for me (I’ll be watching them as well) and if they have anything I need, I’ll PM you.

That’s fine, it’s too early to Sky+ them so I’ll prompt you nearer the time.

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This project is complete for now. Thanking Baobab Archiver for capturing and sharing the Gold broadcasts.

I’m still interested in any BBC2 broadcasts if ever they surface.

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Amazing work, great commitment to restoring all these old comedies! 😄

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I’m an American fan of the Fast Show. I’ve been searching 20 years or more for these unedited episodes. (Here they were shown edited as “Brilliant!”) Is there any way I could access the archive of unedited episodes mentioned here?